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Watch For Paving And Testing Along Blue Line Extension

David Boraks
/
WFAE
Work is nearly complete on the Blue Line's McCullough station on North Tryon Street, near Harris Boulevard.

Construction on the Lynx Blue Line Extension is hitting some final milestones.  The last round of paving will begin this week on North Tryon Street next to the light rail line. And don’t be surprised if you start to see trains testing soon.

The paving on North Tryon Street will be done at night, said Charlotte Area Transit System spokeswoman Hillary DeLong.

"We have a lot of finishing touches we're still doing on the Blue Line Extension to get it ready for the opening that's going to happen in the next 11 months," DeLong said.

Trains are scheduled to start running next March on the nine-mile extension from uptown to UNC Charlotte. That's a change from the original plan to open this August. CATS announced the delay in February, saying contractors were behind on construction and testing.

Some of that testing already has begun, DeLong said. "They are testing signals, to make sure that crossing arms are coming down correctly, so you might see some red flashing lights out there as we test those signals as well," she said. 

Delong said testing of train cars could begin at the end of this month.

CATS plans public meetings this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to give an update on the construction and other city projects along the Blue Line. Similar meetings next week will focus on the start of work to extend the Gold Line streetcar from uptown to Johnson C. Smith University.

RELATED LINKS

See schedules for the Blue Line and Gold Line public meetings RideTransit.org

David Boraks previously covered climate change and the environment for WFAE. See more at www.wfae.org/climate-news. He also has covered housing and homelessness, energy and the environment, transportation and business.